The emirate of Abu Dhabi, having spent billions last year bailing out glitzy neighbor Dubai, is turning to more distant Fujairah to ensure safe, quick passage for its oil exports and improve the nation’s food security.
The capital of the United Arab Emirates, the fourth-largest crude producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is bankrolling infrastructure projects in the easternmost emirate, Fujairah, to gain direct access to the Indian Ocean. Abu Dhabi is investing in an oil-storage terminal and a $3.3 billion pipeline and is building the country’s biggest power and water treatment plants as well as a facility to store imported grain.
The U.A.E.’s richest emirate is taking advantage of Fujairah’s location to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint at the mouth of the Persian Gulf for a fifth of the world’s oil supplies. Iran has threatened to block the waterway if attacked because of its nuclear program. In July, a Japanese tanker was bombed in the Strait, heightening concern that energy supplies from the Gulf are insecure.
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